Transcript variants and expression profiles analysis of Mitf gene in minipigs

OBJECT: To identify transcript variants and expression patterns of porcine Mitf. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pairwise BLAST search at NCBI database was performed to deduce the structure of porcine Mitf gene. Subsequently, 5′ RACE and fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR were used to analyze the expression pattern of porcine Mitf in different tissues. RESULTS: Four transcript variants of porcine Mitf, MITF-A, MITF-H, MITF-M and MITF-SUS were identified, all sharing high homology with those in humans, except Mitf-SUS. CONCLUSION: The sequence of porcine Mitf appear highly homologous to human MITF. However, only 4 transcript variants of porcine Mitf were identified in these minipigs, less than the 9 transcript variants in human MITF.